[Callers] [Organizers] contra dance gypsy

[Woody Lane]

I generally call the move "two-eye turn". This seems to work just fine, 
and it captures the choreographic essence of the movement -- the walk 
around each other with a looking contact.

IMO, right-shoulder round and left-shoulder round are like the 
square-dance move "weave the line" around one person. Nothing about 
eye-contact or even looking at each other. I don't like those terms.

Of course, when I teach the two-eye turn in pre-dance lessons, I always 
advise that it's just looking at each other, that you don't need to 
stare or even look at eyes, that you can choose to read the T-shirt or 
look at a forehead or anything you feel comfortable with. And I like 
your idea of including the concept of playfulness or whimsy (concepts 
that are sometimes missing on the dance floor.)

(Thinking about this move -- it's actually a four-eye turn, but that 
gets weird.)

Woody Lane

On 10/7/2019 5:45 PM, Amy Wimmer via Callers wrote:
> I'm experimenting with teaching this move as a right shoulder 'round, 
> but describing it as friendly/playful. I will try subbing one of those 
> words for RSR. I think it gets the idea of a face-to-face move without 
> the flirty/slur. I know, I know, there are tons of suggestions out 
> there. None of them that I've heard get the attitude across, and 
> suggest face-to-face without actually calling it FTF, or "eyeballs" or 
> something, or without sounding almost exactly like the G word. I know 
> many people are uncomfortable with eye contact, but the interaction 
> has been missing when I call it RSR, and I hear folks being wistful 
> for that. I think a "playful" might bring the spark back, eliminate 
> confused do-si-doing, and be rather fun.
>
> -Amy
>
> On Mon, Oct 7, 2019, 12:19 PM Becky Liddle via Callers 
> <callers at lists.sharedweight.net 
> <mailto:callers at lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
>
>     We should avoid the term “gypsy” in all ways, in my opinion, not
>     just as an official dance call. In some areas of the world it is a
>     racial slur akin to the N word. It has been reclaimed by some Roma
>     in the same way some lesbians have reclaimed “dyke” but when a
>     term is reclaimed, it can still only be used by a member of the
>     group. I can call myself a dyke but you cannot, and a black person
>     can use the N word but I, as a white person, cannot. Since we are
>     not all Roma we need to avoid the term gypsy in the same ways we
>     would avoid other racial/ethnic/other slurs. I miss the term,
>     myself. There was a flirty quality to “gypsy” that “right shoulder
>     round” simply cannot connote. But if there were a traditional term
>     that used “dyke” in it, I would object, and I need to show the
>     same respect to other groups. So when I call this weekend, it will
>     be “right shoulder round”, tho in the walk-thru I’ll also say
>     something like, “don’t forget to make a little
>     joking-pretend-flirty eye contact as you go around! That’s the fun
>     of it!”
>     Becky
>
>>     On Oct 7, 2019, at 3:07 PM, Mac Mckeever via Callers
>>     <callers at lists.sharedweight.net
>>     <mailto:callers at lists.sharedweight.net>> wrote:
>>
>>     only slightly related question: Why is it offensive to call a
>>     dance figure a gypsy but not offensive to be a dance gypsy?
>>
>>     Mac McKeever
>>
>

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